Whether it is a million-year-old meteorite fashioned into a ring, dried moss encapsulated in a earring, or your favourite vintage watch turned into a one-of-a-kind pendant, contemporary jewellers are bending the norms of what is valuable and fashionable, and are experimenting freely with unconventional raw materials.
“The trend of concept jewellery is catching on in India. It’s been embraced in the West much longer. Earlier, Indian jewellery that used unconventional materials would often find its way to art galleries or only catch the interest of collectors, but now the market has expanded to include a lot of people interested in wearing unique, statement pieces,” explains Pooja Roy Yadav of Nimai, an enterprise that promotes contemporary, handcrafted jewellery by Indian designers, including established names like Eina Ahluwalia and Suhani Pittie, and upcoming ones like Chicory Chai — which boasts jewellery created from a private collection of antique Indian coins, their dulled white metal offset by brass and copper (₹ 3,000 to 6,000) — and Absynthe, which creates stunning ‘steam punk’ patterns in pendants, lapel pins, brooches, cufflinks and earrings, by juxtaposing pieces from the innards of vintage watches and old machines (₹ 2,400 upwards).
Renowned Helsinki-based jewellery designer, Inni Pärnänen, who regularly participates in shows across Europe and the US, admits that sometimes her jewellery ‘may not be easy or practical to wear’, but that doesn’t deter her from experimenting. Pärnänen, who has used copper, cow horns, birch wood, parchment and burnt paper to create surreal-looking jewellery (₹ 23,900 upwards) says, “I’ve used even catgut. I’ve been experimenting with fish scales and am waiting for the right moment to start working with it. Some materials are difficult to find, but you never know —coincidence has been fruitful in my experience.”
For the love of it
For many jewellers, their personal fascinations have led them to jewellery design. “My mother had an old watch gifted to her by her father. When it broke, I was surprised to see the complex yet precise workmanship of its insides. I turned that into a pendant and that’s how it all began,” recounts Abhishek Basak of Absynthe, who regularly scours junkyard sales and flea markets in his search for raw materials. For Supriya Donthi of Leafy Affair, a chance encounter with terrarium jewellery on the Internet lead to months of research on the subject, before she started handcrafting (dry) terrarium earrings and pendants herself — little glass structures filled with moss, pebbles and dandelions (₹ 699 to ₹ 1,099).
An interior designer by profession, Aditi Sharma of Greytone was on a sabbatical in Hungary when she discovered an artist who used cement creatively. “I thought, why not jewellery from cement? I mix cement with other materials to create lightweight pieces,” she says. Sharma’s work features grey cement and metal pieces, strung on soft dark suede strips. The result is elegant and minimalist (₹ 1,200 to ₹ 5,600).
Holly Daniels Christensen founded Dune Jewelry, which currently boasts patented jewellery in sterling silver and beach sand, and a sandbank with over 3,000 options. “Almost everyone has a special memory that took place on a coast, and these are tangible reminders. We’ve received sand from all over the world, including Iceland, Fiji and Antarctica,” she says, adding that they are currently making Hershey’s Kisses-shaped jewellery with crushed cocoa beans for Hershey Park (₹ 2,100 upwards).
The times ahead
Nitya Arora of Valliyan predicts exciting times ahead for statement jewellery in India. “Globally, in the high fashion and design capitals, people love statement jewellery. But not everyone is comfortable wearing them in other places yet. When I started doing statement pieces nine years ago, I had to teach one woman at a time, about what it was and how to style it. But now, thanks to stylists using it with Bollywood celebrities and in fashion magazines, women here have started experimenting more with their personal style.” Arora, who mixes various media like glass, crystals, wood, acrylic in her jewellery (₹ 1,800 to ₹₹ 20,000) says that the most unusual piece she has seen is jewellery made from cutlery at a fair in Paris.
American jewellery designer, Monique Péan, whose creations have been favoured by Michelle Obama, echoes an optimistic view about the global market as well. “The modern collector is looking for more unusual materials and less traditional designs. There is also much more interest in learning about how a piece was made and its impact on the environment,” says Péan, who uses recycled gold and other metals, conflict-free diamonds, fossilised dinosaur bone from Colorado, and walrus ivory in her jewellery (₹ 42,600 upwards). “Fossils are Nature’s photographs of time. They can range from lavender to black, blue, red, yellow and brown. These dinosaur bones are between 146 and 156 million years old.”
